


The Tragic Life of Nathanael Kurtzberg

by and_so_the_feels_begin



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bullying, Drama, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Homophobia, Humour, M/M, Romance, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:58:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8186801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/and_so_the_feels_begin/pseuds/and_so_the_feels_begin
Summary: This is a story displaying the many tragic events of Nathanael's life. Being in love with a girl who's pining for someone far more charming than him isn't bad enough. He must also endure the constant embarrassment bestowed upon him by his friends and the tyranny of their class queen, Chloé Bourgeois. In short, the chances of him catching a break are very slim, to say the least.





	1. All Talk, No Actions

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is my first fanfic for Miraculous Ladybug and the first fic I have written in years for that matter. So, please have mercy when giving criticism (though I would still love to know how to improve). Anyways, the first chapter of this fic is all dialogue and this is for a few reasons:
> 
> 1\. I love reading and writing all dialogue stories.
> 
> 2\. I don't have nearly enough confidence in my abilities to write a proper first chapter.
> 
> 3\. I think I best at writing dialogue than anything else.
> 
> So without further ado, here is the story~

"Hey Nath, what're you drawing?"

"Hi Alix, oh this? It's nothing just a dumb little sketch, just to pass the time, you know?"

"...You were drawing Marinette again, weren't you?"

"...No..."

"For the love of God, this is just getting desperate. You need to put the pencil down and actually talk to her."

"Oh yeah, and say what exactly? 'Hey Marinette, I'm that guy that sits behind you in nearly all of your classes but you haven't even talked to before. You know, the same one who drew those pictures of you in his arms and embarrassed you in front of the whole class by dropping them on the ground for everyone to see. Anyways, I think you're really cute and I would love if you could look past all of that along with my inability to talk to you without stuttering like an idiot, and maybe hang out sometime?'"

"That would be better than drawing pictures of her, that you don't have enough guts to ever show her."

"I would show them to her...I just don't think she'd have much interest in them, though..."

"Hmm, well how about we find out?"

"What do you mean by-"

"Hey, Marinette! Nath has something he wants to show you!"

"WHAT? Alix! You can't just- Oh God what have you...Oh, crap she's coming over!"

"Good luck Nath!"

"No! Alix don't leave-"

"Hey, Nathanael!"

"Uh, H-hey Marinette, how are you?..."

"I'm good thanks, and you?"

"I-I'm very good thank you."

"That's good."

"Yeah..."

"..."

"..."

"...Um, Nathanael?

"Yeah?"

"Alix said... you had something to show me?"

"O-oh yeah, um, she was just messing around, you know typical Alix, always messing around ha ha..."

"Oh right, yeah... funny..."

"Yeah...she's a joker..."

"Yup..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...So... what's that you were drawing?"

"What? I-um, I don't know what you're talking about, wha-what is it you are referring to exactly?"

"Well I saw you drawing something earlier in class... you have it there under your arms,"

"Oh, you mean this? It's nothing really, just a small sketch I was doing during class,"

"Can I please see it?"

"Oh well, it's not very good..."

"If it's yours then I'm sure it's great."

"...Okay, here.."

"..."

"..."

"...Nathanael?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this me?"

"Oh uh... well...do you like it?"

"I love it!"

"Then yes! Yes, it is you."

"Wow! Nathanael this is amazing, I knew you were talented but this is just... wow..."

"Thank you! I'm glad you like it."

"I do! You made me look so beautiful."

"Well, that wasn't hard to do..."

"What?"

"What?"

"Did you just-?"

"Nope."

"Nathanael, what did you just say?"

"Nothing! I said nothing at all!"

"Nath-"

RIIIING

"Whoops, there goes the bell for next class, see ya Marinette!"

"Nathanael!"

"Bye!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, as you guys know this is the second chapter of 'The Tragic Story Of Nathanael'. Unlike the first chapter, this one is not all dialogue so please bare with me through any of my grammar mistakes, I'm still learning how to improve.
> 
> At any rate, enjoy.

"I love this song!" yelled an overly enthusiastic Kim into Nathanael's ear. He had his arm hung around his shoulders and was leaning on him to help keep his balance, which was very much needed since he was just after having his sixth pint of beer. Considering he was twice the size of the red-haired boy, it wasn't very surprising that Nathanael was finding it difficult to support his weight.

"Yup," he eventually managed to reply, while he trying to shove his friend off of him, "It sure is catchy."

When he thought about how he was going to spend his Saturday night, Nathanael certainly didn't expect it to consist of being dragged to a party by Kim because he needed to 'lighten up a bit', then being constantly shoved by people dancing and running around without even acknowledging his existence enough to apologise, and trying to keep his highly intoxicated friend from falling over his own two feet.

Even though he wasn't having a good time he still felt like he owed Kim some amount of thanks. It meant a lot to have a friend who notices when he's in a bad mood and tries to change it. Even if he does a terrible job at it, the attempt was still something to be appreciated.

He still couldn't shake the embarrassment he felt after his talk with Marinette two days beforehand. He was mad at himself for acting like such a fool in front of her. She must have thought he was an idiot. Either that or she thought he was a weirdo. Probably both.

The scenario stayed stuck in his head, he went from wanting to cringe -to wanting to punch himself in the face -to wanting to avoid all contact with anyone and bury himself in the ground to wallow in his shame for all eternity.

For the most part, he was succeeding in the sense that he distanced himself from other people very well for those two days, in hopes of dodging any of his friends' questions about what happened, especially Alix. However, that was soon over when Kim started messaging him relentlessly to come with him to Chloe Bourgeois' sixteenth birthday party. He was at first very reluctant to go to a party, especially one hosted by Chloe. But eventually, Kim warn him down and convinced Nathanael that it would be the biggest regret he would ever make in his life if he didn't join him.

He wasn't even sure why Chloe would want to invite Kim to her birthday party -or if she even invited him at all- since she had rejected him not long before on Valentine's day. He was certain that he himself wasn't welcome there, but with the huge crowd of people there he doubted that Chloe would notice him.

"Hey, look it's Alya!" Kim shouted, effectively breaking Nathanael from his train of thought. Once the auburn haired girl heard her name be called, she whipped her head around and smiled when she saw them. "Hey guys, I didn't expect to see you two here." She had to raise her voice significantly in order to be heard over the blaring music coming from the multiple speakers in the room. "Oh yeah, we just thought we'd drop by and check it out!" said Kim, completely oblivious to how slurred his voice sounded. Alya flashed them her famous smirk and raised an eyebrow, "So you two are crashing?"

Nathanael was about to answer when he was interrupted by Kim, who didn't even seem to hear what she said, "Have you seen anyone from our class here?" he asked. Alya rolled her eyes.

"Well I know that Nino and Adrien are here, I definitely saw Mylene with Ivan on my way in, I think I saw Juleka with Rose and I came here with Marinette- I'm actually looking for her right now, I lost her about ten minutes ago."

Nathanael felt his stomach drop.

Oh shit

Marinette was there.

She was there...

His mind started going into a state of panic instantly. He was not ready to face her yet. He needed, at least, another week to get over the incident that happened between them on Thursday, only then could he have hope that maybe she had forgotten about it. Even then, he didn't know what he would say to her, to avoid another awkward moment like that with her.

When he first came to this party he thought for certain that there was no chance that Marinette would be there since it was Chloe's party. Then he realised that if Alya was there he should have known straight away that her best friend would have joined her and that perhaps much like he and Kim, they too may be crashing the party.

"Alya! There you are!"

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of that painfully familiar voice.

Marinette grabbed Alya's forearm before swinging her head around to face the two boys. She smiled brightly at them both instantly but took a double take when looking at Nathanael, as if she was surprised to see him there. Somewhere in his state of panic Nathanael somehow formed the ability to return her smile with a bashful lopsided one, while rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand - to try and calm himself down, in hopes of preventing his head from exploding- and still helping provide support for his friend to stand with the other.

"He-ey Marinette! We were just asking where you were," Kim said is a very heavily slurred voiced, which made the inspiring artist feel even more uneasy than he already was. He couldn't help but think about how non-discrete Kim can be while talking about Nathanael's crush on Marinette when he's sober, he dread to think about what his friend could accidently let out while under the influence.

"Hi, guys! I was just talking to Alix and next thing I know I've lost Alya," she replied which sparked an instant interest within the intoxicated teen. "Alix is here?" he asked cocking his head to the side. "Yeah, she was over at the punch table, I think she's still there."

Without saying a word, Kim pushed off of Nathanael- giving himself a boost to stand upright and with a slight wobble in his step, he set off towards the punch table. Nathanael watched him leave incredulously while Marinette stared after him -concern etching on her features.

"Should we really be letting him go off on his own?" she said looking between Alya and Nathanael. Alya rolled her eyes, "I'll go after him to make sure he doesn't make too much of a fool out of himself," she said, smirking at Marinette before running after the stumbling idiot.

The blue haired teen watched her friend as she left before turning around to face Nathanael. He felt his entire body stiffen at the realisation that he was now left alone with Marinette. Granted they were surrounded by many people, but that did little to help him since he had none of his friends there to watch over him and make sure he wouldn't do or say anything stupid in front of her, like on Thursday.

Oh, crap. He almost forgot about what he said to her on Thursday. He didn't think he would have to face her again until school on Monday. But there she was, right in front of him and he had no clue what to say to her.

"I didn't think I'd see you here," she said, flashing him a friendly smile. "I didn't think that parties like this were your style."

"O-oh, they're not," he stuttered out "Kim dragged me here," he laughed nervously. Her smile widened "Yeah that seems like something he would do," she giggled "I'm glad that you two are here, I've only seen a few people from our class. I don't know anyone else here, I kinda feel a bit awkward."

"Oh, trust me, I know what that's like, you are talking to the physical embodiment of awkwardness," he assured her. She laughed and a wave of relief ran over him.

As they talked, they moved away from the loud music and towards Chloe's living room sofa. They continued to chat as their conversation went from homework to designing, to drawing- the list goes on. Nathanael was pleasantly surprised to find that not only were his fears of her thinking he was a weirdo completely unnecessary but he also talked her that night more than he ever had in all the years they spent in the same class.

He learned more about her than he ever did before. He learned about how she is an only child, how long she has been designing, where she used to live before moving to Paris- and so on. In return, she learned a lot about him too. They talked about their hobbies and interests. He shared with her details about himself like his love for all art forms, not just manga style of drawing. She expressed her passion for baking, which he believed she must have inherited from her parents.

He never wanted their conversation to end. He spent so long watching her from afar, wondering about what kind of person she was behind that cute face of hers. All he ever knew about her was from what she said in class and how she carried herself around others. He could only admire what everyone else saw; her standing up to Chloe when she's out of line, her amazing talent in designing and her signature warm smile which she shared among all of her friends. He ever knew about the little things that make Marinette who she is. Now that he was starting to get to know some of them, he found himself gathering more reasons to admire her beyond her beauty.

If he could have stayed there talking to her for the rest of the night, he would have. Unfortunately for him, their conversation was interrupted when Alya came up behind Marinette and tapped her shoulder. She was adamant that the two had to come with her because the rest of their classmates were together and playing truth or dare in one of the many rooms of Chloe's home. She said they needed to join them because it was getting really good as they had already gotten Kim to take off his shirt allow them to draw on his torso, had Nino confess to his weakness for boy bands and made Alix prank call their principle.

Nathanael was hesitant at first as he never really liked truth or dare. He didn't like being under pressure by others to do something he was uncomfortable with and preferred not to share his secrets with many people.

However, he saw how excited Marinette seemed to be at the idea and when she turned to look at him with a hopeful smile and asked if he would like to go with them, he felt his uneasiness fade away and a desperate want to make her happy took its place.

"Yeah, it sounds like fun!"

When Nathanael entered Chloe's guest room, where the game was being held, he instantly felt his initial uneasy feeling come rushing back. He saw Kim and Alix quickly glance at him before turning to each other and smiling in a very non-discrete fashion. But then again he figured he didn't need to worry about a guy who was half naked with inappropriate images draw all over his torso with a sharpie.

However, he was still cautious of Alix after what she did on Thursday. Granted she was just trying to help and probably didn't know about what happened after she left -since he didn't tell anyone about it- but he still wasn't able to bring himself to fully forgive her, at least not enough to lower suspicions that she would try something like that again.

When he sat down to join their circle, he saw Chloe sitting across from him. He was at first very nervous as to what she would say about him crashing her party. Would she kick him out? Would she call him a creepy stalker freak? Would she shame him in front of everyone in the room and make him want to crawl into a hole all over again?

To his relief, she did none of those things when she saw him. All she did was sigh and continue on as if his presence didn't affect her at all. Either she wasn't bothered to say anything or was too exhausted to care.

He figured the latter as he had never before seen the spiteful blonde look so run down before. Her shoulders were slouched, her eyes were drooping- fighting to stay open and her makeup was unable to hide the dark circles underneath them. The expression on her face showed just how much she was dreading the party and made it seem like she was counting the minutes until it was over. It almost made her look human.

He saw Adrien sitting beside her and suddenly he realised that he must have bee the reason why Marinette and Alya were invited. He must have told Chloe that unless his friends could join him, he wouldn't go to her party. It had to hurt to invite her enemy to her birthday party, but Nathanael didn't care for the girl enough to feel bad for her.

Nino wasted no time before explaining the rules, "You have to do all of the dares and answer all of the truths, if not you pass and you're out of the game, understood?" Nathanael and Marinette nodded. Nino turned his gaze to the blue eyed girl and grinned, "Okay Marinette, truth or dare?"

She didn't take much time to think before she answered "Truth."

"What was the most embarrassing thing to happen to you in school?"

Marinette thought for a minute pursing her lips and tapping them with her index finger. When she found her answer she blushed and looked down, smiling shyly. "Once when I was thirteen, I went to a dance wearing the first dress I ever made. But I didn't sew it very well because one of my friends pulled on my dress to get my attention, and it ripped," Nathanael cringed and saw that nearly everyone else was too. Kim was laughing in an 'oh shit' sort of way, Adrien and Alya looked at her with sympathetic eyes, Chloe raised her eyebrow and Alix smiled at her with a scandalised yet intrigued expression. "When you say that it ripped, where do you mean?"

Nathanael looked over at Marinette who was still facing the ground with her eyes closed, "Well, you know- around.. there." She answered gesturing towards her chest. There came a chorus of 'oooooooh' and snickering. The red haired boy tried his best to not blush and sent the flustered girl an understanding smile, to help calm her embarrassment.

"It's your turn now," Nino said. Grateful for the distraction, Marinette scanned the room for who to pick as her target. "Alix" she decided, "truth or dare?"

The pink-haired roller blader smiled eagerly, "Dare!" she said, ready to take on whatever challenge Marinette would throw at her. Marinette seemed taken back and a little disappointed by her eagerness, it seemed that she was hoping for a more fearful reaction from her. Never the less, she continued "I dare you to let Kim do your makeup." Alix's face dropped into an annoyed scowl and Kim turned his head to her with a big dumb grin on his face.

"Where are we gonna get the makeup?" Alix asked hoping to find a way out. "You can use some of mine, just stay away from the new stuff," Chloe said, speaking for the first time throughout the entire game. Kim looked through her makeup drawer until he found products that satisfied him. As he applied the different foundations, eyes shadows, lipsticks, eyeliners and mascara, Alix didn't stop grumbling the entire time. There were many jokes made about Kim's lack of skills in applying makeup and snickering coming from all who were watching his handiwork. Nathanael smiled to himself as he thought that the scenario looked a lot like those boyfriend tags he had seen all over the internet. It seemed fitting to him that it would be Alix and Kim to do a challenge like that, given their obvious attraction towards each other. He knew from the first time he met the two many years ago, that they had feelings for each other right away.

Their relationship puzzled him. Whenever he saw them together it made him wonder why they weren't...together. He imagined that liking someone who likes you back would be much easier. The opportunity for them to be with the one they love was right there. So, why not take it? Nathanael knew that if he had the same chance with Marinette, there would be nothing stopping him from being with her. It was so simple to him, so why did they need to make it so complicated for themselves?

When Kim had finished his masterpiece, nearly everyone in the room was gasping for breath from laughing too hard. Not from the makeup- although it was still hideous- but from just how pissed Alix looked. She had a ridiculous amount of tanned foundation on her face which was a stark contrast to the paleness of her neck, she had bright blue eye shadow that covered her entire eyelids to her eyebrows, her lipstick was bright pink and she had too round pink circles to serve as a blush on both of her cheeks. Alya took out her phone and started to take pictures which only helped to fuel the short girls annoyance even more.

However instead of lashing out at the red head, Alix decides to turn all attention in the room onto someone else. "Nathanael,"

Oh no.

He looked up to see Alix smirking at him with an expression that told him she had another one of her schemes in mind.

He was certain that this time he would never be able to forgive her for whatever she was planning.

"Truth or dare?"

He suddenly felt all of the eyes in the room fall on him. Everyone watching closely to see what the shy artist would choose. To see a classmate as timid as he was it must have been very intriguing for them to see how he would respond.

Nathanael thought carefully about his answer. The thought of doing an embarrassing dare in front of his classmates- including his crush- sent alarms off in his mind immediately. But before deciding truth he took his time to think about what secrets Alix knew that she could use to against him. Straight away he thought of the worst possible case scenario that she would make him confess to his crush on Marinette. After Thursday's incident, he wouldn't put it past her.

So, without giving it a second thought, he answered "Dare."

As he expected, most of the people in the room looked surprised at his answer, but Kim and Alix just grinned at each other. Nathanael instantly regretted his decision. He braced himself for whatever was about to come and said that no matter what he could take it.

"I dare you to kiss Marinette."

He was wrong.

He was so wrong.

He internally facepalmed for not thinking about how Alix could twist the situation to work in her favour either way. He knew that his face was turning red and that no matter how hard he could try and fight it, it was going to stay red. When he dared to look up at everyone else in the room he saw numerous different reactions. Alix and Kim were, of course, smirking but they also had a sense of pride in their expression as if they expected him to be grateful for their gigantic betrayal. Beside them, he saw Rose and the scary goth chick she always hung out with- looking at him intently with encouraging smiles, which made him wonder if they were in on this plan from the beginning. Sitting across from him, he saw Chloe pinching the bridge of her nose irritably, he figured it must finally be getting to her that both he and Marinette were at her party, especially now since they both had become the primary focus of everyone's attention. But he was dealing with too much of his own problem at that moment to give a damn about how she felt about the situation. Beside her Adrien was staring at the ground, not saying a word and not showing any expression on his face, Nathanael didn't know what to take from that. Next to him, Nino was staring across at Alya and they shared an anxious look, as if they knew something significant that he didn't. Mylene and Ivan looked sincerely shocked and interested in what Nathanael would choose.

And finally, after purposefully waiting to check her expression her last, Nathanael looks to his side at the blue haired beauty who was the current centre of his anxiety.

The said beauty was staring at Alix wide-eyed as if she couldn't register what she had just said. However, as her cheeks started to tinge red, it was clear that she understood the gravity of the situation. When she noticed him looking at her she turned to face his direction and sent him a shy and awkward smile. Her reaction took him by surprise. He was at most expecting her to look disgusted or at the very least annoyed at the suggestion that she would kiss someone she only started to really begin talking to.

And although she did seem uncomfortable with the idea, she didn't seem opposed to it. She seemed like she was more uncomfortable with everyone staring at her than anything else.

He took a moment to evaluate the situation. Here was the girl he loved sitting next to him with his friends all around him, expecting him to kiss her. No one speaking out and no one actively teasing him. If anything, it seemed like most people in the room were on their toes waiting for him to finally do it.

He thought about what Alix said on Thursday about him needing to put down his pencil and finally make a move. Once again she gave him a perfect opportunity do so again. For two days he had been angry at her for putting him on the spot like that when really he should have been grateful that she had done so. He should have taken the chance to finally do something about his feelings and he ruined it. Once again she was giving him a perfect opportunity to try again.

He looked back at Marinette again and for the first time that night he really looked at her. She looked gorgeous. Her hair was tied back at the sides with the rest left undone to frame her face, her cheeks were flushed and she was looking down at the ground again timidly. She was wearing a beautiful light blue, tight-waisted dress that brought out her fair complexion. He thought about the wonderful person behind it all. The kind-well spoken-confident-and-interesting-girl he had seen in class. The well opinionated-sarcastic-funny-and-friendly-girl who he had been talking with for hours before coming into that room. He realised that if it meant he could possibly become closer to that girl, then he was ready to take that chance.

Just before he was about to accept the dare, he saw Marinette looking across the circle at Adrien. It was only for a few seconds before he looked back up at her and she immediately averted her eyes. However, in those few seconds, Nathanael felt all of his hopes shatter.

It was only brief but Nathanael could see every emotion she was feeling when she looked at him. Anxiety, regret and worst of all longing.

He knew that last one better than anyone. He almost forgot how Marinette always smiled the brightest, blushed the most and became especially shy when she was around Adrien. He knew how she felt about him. Everyone did. And yet his friends sat there waiting for him to take a chance against Adrien Agreste. As if he ever had one.

"Nathanael?" said Rose in a concerned tone and he suddenly realised just how long he sat there thinking without saying anything.

He took one last quick glance at Adrien, before hanging his head in defeat.

"I pass."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin
> 
> I enjoyed writing this, even if it was hard as fuck. I would love to know what you guys think. If you have any pointers or criticisms to help me improve, they would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> So, please vote and leave a comment!


	3. Why does he bother?

"I can't believe you wussed out!" Kim yelled while face-palming in frustration.

Nathanael rolled his eyes at his overdramatic friend, then turned his gaze back to his sketchbook and tried to finish drawing the last chapter of his new manga.

"I didn't wuss out," he exasperated, "I just didn't think it was right to force her to kiss me over a dare."

"She was fine with it! She was smiling! But you just had to pass, like a wimp!" Kim retorted- louder than necessary- before taking a seat across from the red-haired boy, slouching in a defeated manner. Nathanael sent him an aggravated glare, his friend's rant was really starting to get on his nerves.

"I mean come on, Nath! The chance was right there! Why would you pass?!"

"Because she likes Adrien," He stated bluntly, trying to not seem affected by the fact. But Kim could see the way Nathanael's face changed from anger to hurt in a matter of seconds and his demeanour faltered as he said it. As if he was finally feeling the weight of the words hit him.

Kim realised he had struck something delicate in his friend and chose wisely to keep quiet and allow him to wallow in his own self-pity for a while, before saying another word.

Nathanael dropped his pencil, leant back into his chair, closed his eyes and rubbed his palms against his forehead, to try and release some of the tension he could feel building. He had tried not to think too much about it as he knew it would only upset him to do so. But with Kim constantly pestering him, he couldn't take it anymore and finally let all of his pent up frustration, embarrassing and hurt feelings rush to the forefront of his mind. For days, the scene had been replaying on loop in his head. He couldn't help but analyse everything that happened in those few moments before his heart was broken.

When Marinette smiled at him, what did it mean? Was she pitying him? Was she trying to not hurt his feelings? Did she do it because the only other option was cringing in disgust?

And what about his friends? They must have known about her crush, but they still encouraged him to kiss her. Why? Were they trying to humiliate him? There was no way that they genuinely thought he could compete with Adrien freaking Agreste. He was a wannabe artist who spends more time in class writing comics where he is someone cooler than himself against a smart, charming, perfect model student-literally. It wasn't exactly rocket science to know who had the better chance.

After a few minutes of sitting in awkward silence, Kim finally decided to ask something he wanted to know for a while, "Hey Nath... why do you like Marinette?"

The red haired boy's eyes flew open and he looked at his friend, clearly surprised by his forwardness, "W-what? What do you mean?" -was his startled response.

Kim internally cringed when he realised how painfully blunt his question came out. He sighed, "It's just... if you really think you don't have a chance with Marinette, why do you still like her? Why do you still care if you think it's hopeless?"

Even with his clarification, Nathanael still confused by his friend's question. Why would he think that Marinette's not liking him would change how he felt about her? Even though the situation was less than ideal -he couldn't just switch off his emotions as if she never mattered at all.

His feelings for her developed slowly over a long period of time. There wasn't just one key part of her that he liked- although it had started out that way.

He first only knew her as an acquaintance. Not really anything more than a classmate he wouldn't usually talk to, only on occasion to ask for a spare pencil. He didn't think to pay attention to her until he saw her interactions with Chloe.

Most people tended to shy away from confrontation when it came to the snobby, blonde haired bully. But Marinette never did that. She knew what her values were and wasn't willing to sacrifice them for anyone else. She felt comfortable enough in her own skin to protect herself -and others- from any injustice, no matter who she had to stand up to. Nathanael admired her for that.

Once he started to pay attention to the blue eyed girl, he noticed other things about her that he liked. She had a great sense of humour, for one. She would always have a witty comeback ready for Chloe whenever she started acting like a brat. And, much like himself, she detested puns, as evident from the loud groan she would emit whenever one was said in class.

He realised that they both shared a love for art. She would spend nearly as much time in class drawing designs as he would sketch in his notebook. One major difference, however, was that Marinette had the confidence to show off her creations proudly. Any chance she would get she would enter into fashion competitions or wear her own designs to school. That was another thing about her he admired, her confidence.

Her kindness was what really drew him to her. She would always try to be fair and polite to those around her- as long as they showed her the same amount of respect. When she needed to apologise for a mistake she made it never seemed forced, only genuine. If she were to ask you if you were okay, it would really feel like she cared. She was never fake. It was part of her nature to be kind.

He realised he was attracted to her when he found himself noticing small parts of her appearance each day. He would be sitting at a desk behind hers and would think she had very pretty hair. She would be giving a presentation in front of the class and he would acknowledge that she had beautiful blue eyes. He would see her laughing from the corner of his eye and would realise that she had the loveliest smile he had ever seen in his entire life.

But eve putting her good looks aside, he found her facial expressions and the way she moved also interesting. The way she would all but flip out of her seat when she is caught off guard. How her hands moved in an animated fashion when she talked. She had countless ways in which she would express herself. He could draw her a thousand times and never get bored. To him, she was the most beautiful person in the world. His inspiration. His muse.

"Nath?"

Nathanael came shooting out of his dream like state to see Kim staring at him cautiously, waiting for his answer.

Nathanael let out a sigh, "I wouldn't know where to start."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin
> 
> If I'm being honest, I don't really like how this turned out. I feel like it is worse than the last one :/, but I'd still like to know what you guys thought so please leave a review. Whether it just says you liked the story or that you have some constructive criticism I would love to know, I fangirl whenever I see a new review they make me so happy.
> 
> Anyways, please comment and leave a vote if you liked it :)


	4. Unrequired Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys, I told you I wouldn't be as long getting out a new chapter and here it is, right after I put up my last chapter I started on this one. I couldn't help myself, I just wanted to keep going, so I did. There are some bits that don't make sense when put with previous chapters so I'll go back to them and change them later.
> 
> But anyways, without further ado, enjoy~

At any point in his life, had Nathanael offended God? Had he committed some sort of terrible act in a past life, which he must now pay for? Or did the universe just have a really sick sense of humour and liked to use him as the butt of all of its jokes? These were the questions he would ask himself whenever he wounded up in situations like this, where he is forced into spending long periods of time with either his crush- who he had just recently rejected, his obnoxiously loud friend -who likes to embarrass him no matter where they are, the girl who constantly harasses him on a daily basis, the scary chick who sits behind him in maths class and never talks like a normal human being or the teacher who picked him up by the back of his collar, after he tripped over his bag, in front of all of his classmates as if he were a cat.

But somehow, by some kind of all-powerful cosmic force, he found himself sitting in a classroom with the five people he least wanted to be around, all together where he was destined to spend three hours of his Friday evening.

He sat to the right of his said loud friend, Kim, even though he was still pissed at him for being the reason that he was stuck in detention in the first place. Sitting behind him was Marinette, who he turned around to glance at once, then turned back and broke his short gaze when she noticed his eyes on her and didn't dare to look back again. The scary chick- Juleka? Was that her name?- sat two rows behind Marinette and Chloe sat way back at the very bottom right desk of the room, far away from everyone else.

Ms Mendeleiev stood in front of them all, leaning back against her desk, staring at them all with nothing short of disgust on her face. She peered down at him over her glasses like she often did during Science, as if she was trying to decide what she could do to him to atone for the three hours of her Friday she was losing to look over them. This was why he hated her. She always picked on him whenever she had the chance. If his book fell on the floor during class, she would give out to him for causing a distraction. If someone threw a paper plane at his head, she would give out to him for the noise it made hitting him. If aliens came down to destroy all life on earth, she would give out to him for attracting them with his bright red hair.

He decided to stop staring at his hands and look back at her to meet her burning glare with his own 'not bothered' expression. He wasn't in the mood to be judged by an old hag -who had a mole the size of a thumb, on her chin- even if she was grading his tests later.

He didn't miss the snarl she tried to conceal as she walked around her desk to sit at her comfy, cushioned swivel chair. She closed her eyes and started to rub her temples in frustration, "Can you all please explain to me why I'm here on a Friday night with all of you, instead of at home with my family?" she asked with an irritated tone in her voice.

There was nothing but complete silence as the teens sat awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to her question. She raised one eyebrow and sighed heavily out of aggravation, she shot Kim a pointed look, "Why are you here?"

He looked up and shifted in his seat uncomfortably, suddenly feeling embarrassed for the stunt he pulled earlier that landed him there, "I broke a window in the gym,"

"How did you break it?"

He avoided eye contact before answering her, "I thought it was open, so I tried to kick a ball through it,"

Nathanael heard something that sounded like Juleka snickering, he turned to look at her and noticed Marinette was biting her lip, trying to hold back a smile. Ms Mendeleiev rolled her eyes, it was clear that she was not amused by Kim's accidental vandalisation of school property.

"What about you?"

Nathanael looked up to see her looking him, expecting an answer. Nathanael leant back and exhaled heavily out of annoyance at the criticism she already harboured for him before hearing what he had to say. "I was standing beside him when he broke it and Ms Bustier thought I had something to do with it,"

He jumped in his seat when a loud laugh from behind startled him, he turned and saw Chloe cackling, "Wow, Tomato-head, way to throw shade over your friend,"

For a few seconds, he sat there confused as to why he was being called out as a bad friend for telling the truth. Then he realised it was Chloe Bourgeois who was accusing him of being a bad friend and he just felt annoyed, "Shut up Chloe," he snapped.

He usually didn't talk back when being picked on, but he was in an especially shitty mood that day and had ran out of fucks to give.

"Nathanael! Don't talk to your classmates like that!", yelled Ms Mendeleiev with the loud, shrill voice she uses especially for him whenever she feels like screaming at someone.

Nathanael turned back around and folded his arms with a huff. He held back the compulsion to give her a piece of his mind as he decided he may want to leave that evening without losing his hearing from her unbearable screeching.

Her angry glower lingered over him for a few seconds before she shifted her gaze to behind him at Marinette. "Why am I not surprised that you are here?"

Marinette glanced up at her but then looked back down at her hands seemingly feeling uncomfortable with the question. Ms Mendeleiev sighed, "I know you are a good girl, so why do you keep ending up in detention? Is it really that hard not to be late for class?"

Marinette said nothing and just shook her head in response. She looked at her with disappointed eyes, which Nathanael thought was much more human than the burning glares he receives from her when he is late to class. But he couldn't feel bitter towards Marinette, it wasn't her fault that their teacher hated him over everyone else in their class.

"And you, Juleka?"- Ah, so he was right, that was her name.

She let out a small cough to clear her throat and said in a quiet, timid voice, "I forgot to bring in my books too many times,"

Her dim answer kinda surprised Nathanael. He assumed that she would have done something crazy or reckless to earn her a place in that seat she was currently slouching in. He thought that from her dark clothes and choice of hair colour that she would be the kind of girl who would hang out with the 'bad kids'. He certainly didn't expect her to seem so shy to be there as if it was her first time ever having a detention.

"How many times did you forget them?" Ms Mendeleiev cocked an eyebrow at her.

She nearly shrunk into her shoulders when giving her answer, "...Five times,"

The old purple-haired woman threw her eyes upwards and drummed her fingernails on her desk.

"And what about you Ms Bourgeious?"

'Because her daddy didn't threaten to sue the school this time,' is what Nathanael really wanted to say, but he dug his nails into his arm to try and subdue the strong urge he had to speak his thoughts out loud. It felt like holding in a sneeze.

Chloe, who had been peacefully filing her nails, looked up at the teacher then went back to happily work on them as she answered, without a care in the world, "I skipped French and Maths on Wednesday,"

"Why did you feel, the need to do that?" Ms Mendeleiev asked obviously too exhausted to put up with Chloe's carefree demeanor.

"Um, because I needed to get a haircut, pronto, for my split end? Hell-o?!" Chloe responded in her annoying overly-fake-girlish voice that always gave Nathanael a headache to listen to for very long.

Her answer, rightfully so, ticked off Ms Mendeleiev. "Right!" she snapped, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, "Since I have to stay here, instead of spending my Friday evening in the comfort of my own home -to watch over you lot- I want you all to take out a pen and a piece of paper and write a two thousand word essay on why you are here,"

Nathanael suppressed the groan he wanted to let out and did as she said -started writing his essay.

It couldn't have been more than ten minutes into them writing, that Ms Mendeleieve started to get very irritated and began fidgeting in her seat. It wasn't long before she stood up and said she was going to use the toilet and warned them not talk or close the door while she was gone.

As soon as she left, Kim was out of his seat and started walking around the room, looking for things to something himself with, until he set his eyes on Marinette.

"Hey, Mari, how are you?" he asked politely, taking a seat next to her. Marinette looked up from her essay and smiled at him. "I'm good, thanks. How are you?"t

Even though the conversation was completely innocent, Nathanael feared that it wouldn't stay that way for long.

"I'm alright, hey, so what did you think of the party last Saturday?"

He fears were right.

"I thought it was great! I had lots of fun," was her response.

Nathanael felt a strange feeling of hope start to develop in his chest. She didn't seem to have an upset or uncomfortable reaction towards the question. Maybe, just maybe, she didn't remember that he rejected her.

Kim chuckled, "Yeah, my favourite part was when we played truth or dare,"

God-freaking-dammit, Kim!

Marinette's response went from comfortable small talk to awkward stuttering, within seconds. "Oh, um, that -yeah, that was fun. It was, uh... really funny when you put the make-up on Alix,"

Kim grinned, "Yeah, that was great, I send her pictures of it whenever she is mean to me, just to annoy her,"

The blue-haired girl giggled, "Oh wow, she must really regret letting you do that,"

Nathanael started to feel the same hope he had before -returning to him. Marinette had successfully diverted the conversation into another direction, maybe he really could go the next three hours without last week's incident coming up.

"That reminds me, hey, Tomato-head! Why didn't you want to kiss Marinette?"

He forgot about the blonde-haired demon sitting in the back.

He whipped his head around to see Chloe Bourgeois staring at him with an eyebrow cocked, waiting in amusement for his reply. He felt the sharp sting of a headache forming around his temples. He really didn't want to deal with her bullshit right now.

"It's none of you business Chloe," he mumbled, making sure not to so much as glance at Marinette, as he was sure that one look at her might make him crumble.

"Um, it happened in my house, at my party in front of everyone in this room, it's not really all that much private," she persisted.

"I'm not in the mood," he warned her, trying to sound unaffected.

"I mean, we all know you like her, you're always drawing pictures of her in that dumb notebook of yours,"

He felt a hard pang in his chest and the hairs on the back of his neck stand. He hoped to God, that Marinette didn't believe one word of what the stuck-up brat was ignorantly spewing out of her mouth.

"Stop it, Chloe," Marinette said, in a firm and aggravated tone. He felt anxiety begin to build inside him. Why did she sound so annoyed? Does the thought of him liking her really upset her that much? Does she feel insulted that he rejected her? What was going on in her mind?

"Hey, guys, what about when I took off my shirt and let everyone draw on me? That was pretty funny...ha-ha" Kim weakly attempted to change the subject, feeling like the conversation was escalating way faster than he wanted it to when he first brought up the subject.

Chloe ignored him and continued drilling them, "Or have you moved on, because you've realised that she is just too ugly to find any bit appealing or is it because you realise that she is already busy chasing after Adrien Agreste, who would probably much rather die than put his hand in those ugly pink jeans of hers,"

"Shut it!"

"Enough!"

"Guys!"

Everyone turned to Juleka, who was holding her index finger to her lips, "If you keep shouting, Ms Mendeleiev might hear us,"

"I doubt she will," said Kim, as he walked over to the window, "She just went outside for a smoke,"

"How do you know that?"

"I'm looking out the window right now and I can see her with a cigar in her mouth,"

Juleka slouched back in her chair, "Oh."

Nathanael, who had kept his eyes set on Chloe, sending her an aggravated death glare, turned back to face his essay and decided to continue working in an effort to distract himself from the anger still boiling inside of him.

"Hey, why don't we close the door, guys?"

Juleka looked up at Kim, confused, "I thought she said we weren't allowed,"

"We weren't allowed to talk, but that hasn't stopped us," he replied, as he looked through Ms Mendeleiev's desk drawer for the key.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Juleka said, as he took out a chain with about twenty keys on it, "What if we get in trouble?"

"What are they gonna do? Put us in detention?" he said sarcastically, picking up the key he knew was the right one he knew all too well from his many previous detentions and started making his way towards the door.

"They could make us stay back another day,"

"Don't bother, he is gonna lock it anyways," Nathanael sighed.

"But what if-"

She was cut off by the sound of a clicking noise coming from Kim's direction. He turned around to face them and grinned, "Now, we can have some real fun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.
> 
> This was originally meant to be longer, but I think it's safe to stop here and continue on in the next chapter. You may have noticed the problem with Nathanael not knowing who Juleka was in this chapter but in previous ones he did, but don't worry I'll change that soon. As always I love seeing reviews from you guys, whether they are just saying you liked the story or have constructive criticism for me, I love them. Especially the ones with good criticism so I know how to improve in later chapters. You can also vote on a poll on my profile, for what story you want me to write next.
> 
> Anyways, please review!


	5. Personal Shit

"No," Nathanael said through clenched teeth.

"Oh come on!" Kim protested, throwing his arms up in the air for dramatic effect. "Why are you being such a buzzkill?!"

Nathanael gave him a dumbfounded look. As if it wasn't as obvious as day why he didn't want to play truth or dare. "I'm. not. playing." he exasperated.

"Just give it a rest, muscle-head," Chloe said whilst never moving her gaze from her phone's screen. "You can't even do any proper dares in a classroom without possibly breaking something,"

For the first time in his life, Nathanael felt grateful for something that Chloe had said. Granted, most of what she usually says is only to benefit herself. But finally, after all, the years he had known the girl, he found they were both on the same page.

"Well, what else can we do, besides write this stupid essay," Kim huffed while slouching back in his seat.

"How about would you rather?" Juleka quietly suggested from behind Marinette. It was clear to Nathanael that she was uncomfortable with talking in front of other people, but that she also didn't want to be shut out of the conversation. Throughout the entire twenty minutes of them sitting in that classroom, she seemed to be very shy in both the way she talked and the way she carried herself. He started to feel a little bit guilty for his judgemental assumptions of her being a juvenile delinquent because of her clothing.

"That's stupid," Chloe responded -in a 'matter of fact' tone, still not looking up from her phone.

Juleka sunk down in her chair, being shut down took a chip off of the confidence she managed to build to give her own opinion. And Nathanael remembered why he wouldn't ever stay feeling guilty for long, because no matter what, he would never be as bad as Chloe Bourgeois.

"We could play spin the bottle,"

Instant shouts of protests and disgust came from all in the room at Kim's suggestion. He let out a disgruntled noise, "Well it's better than sitting here and doing nothing,"

Chloe scoffed, "There is an untold amount of things that are better than the possibility of kissing any of you turds,"

Marinette rolled her eyes, already she was tired of blonde's insults, "I'm pretty sure that none of us would want a kiss from you anyways, Chloe,"

Nathanael glanced over at Kim. He knew about the tall boy's crush on Alix, but he wasn't sure if he was completely over his crush on the snooty-stuck-up-snob. But all he saw was a blank expression on his friend's face as he watched the two girls go back and forth with insults.

Chloe's laugh was laced with malice, "Oh I know you wouldn't. Not with your huge crush on Adrien Agreste, by the way, good luck with that 'thing' you two have got going where he never notices while you stutter to the point where no one can even tell what the fuck you're saying!"

"Piss off," Marinette responded, her voice showing her exhaustion.

"Oh did I make you upset? Is the little Ching-chong mad?"

The blue haired beauty was on her feet in an instant and turned around to face Chloe, her eyes steaming with anger. She could make fun of her crush, her clothes and even her financial status. But if there was one thing Marinette would not accept it was racism.

"That's it!"

Nathanael stood up from his chair, expecting that she was about to hit the beach blonde demon. Even though he wanted to do the same, he still didn't want Marinette to get into trouble for assaulting another student. But she didn't hit her, instead, she stood in front of her desk, slammed her hands on it and leaned down to glare into her eyes.

"Even if I didn't like Adrien," she began, "I would never want to kiss a racist, spiteful- bitch! Like you!"

She the turned away and walked back to her own desk, aggressively pulling out her chair and sitting down, facing the opposite direction of Chloe.

Realising there was no threat of physical abuse occurring, Nathanael sat down in his own chair, but not before catching a glimpse of Chloe's hurt expression. It looked very much like her annoyed expression, but this one included a quivering frown that she was clearly trying to force down. This was unusual for Chloe, to say nothing and accept defeat when her emotions are aggravated in such a way that she needs to stop herself from showing them too much. It was unlike her to not shout more insults back until she won any argument she was a part of.

He didn't pay too much attention to it, however, as he was preoccupied with the heart crushing feeling he was experiencing from Marinette's loud mini speech, where she all but confirmed her crush on Adrien. He knew it already, but he didn't realise how much it would hurt him for her to not even try to deny it. It was now an undeniable fact that even she wasn't going to object to.

Kim sat up straight in his chair and started to brainstorm in his head other possible games to distract from the tension in the room caused by the sudden screaming match.

"We... could play poker!"

"...Did you bring any cards?"

"We could play football!"

"Where would we get a ball? And this place is filled with desks..."

"We...could... order a pizza,"

"I'm pretty sure the pizza delivery guy won't come to the school, Kim," Nathanael said, feeling drained with boredom and frustration from the lump in his throat which refused to go away. He just wanted to go home where he could avoid any more occurring drama and try to ease his pain of his crush by distracting himself with the painting of the Notre Dame that lies in the back of his room -which he keeps telling himself to finish. He relented and decided to finish his essay before he ended up in more trouble.

The entire room went quiet as Kim thought of other possible options and all that could be heard was the sound of Chloe texting in the far back. After a while of never ending clicking and text alerts, Nathanael became very irritable. He wanted to concentrate on his work, but it was very hard to do with the constant distractions.

"Chloe, can you please put your phone on silence?"

Startled by the sudden new voice, Nathanael looked up to see their school janitor standing at the door of the classroom. Holding his mop, he looked on straight while smirking, he must have seen something funny and Nathaneal for a moment thought it was him he was staring at. "If you keep doing that, all the blood in your head will turn your hair red,"

He was confused before he looked behind him to see Kim with his legs over the back of a chair and his head dangling off of the seat, completely upside down. The said boy, pouted and awkwardly sat up straight before cocking his eyebrow in disbelief at the man, "That's not true, Tom," he stated.

Nathanael blinked, he was surprised that Kim knew the name of their janitor. The name of the man -who cleaned their classrooms when they left and fixed leaks in the roof- had always been a mystery to him and the rest of his friends. But apparently, Kim knew this entire time.

The man-Tom- looked over at Chloe, who still hadn't put her phone on silent.

"Miss Bourgeois, is there an emergency? Is that why you feel the need to contact whoever it is you're messaging? Because if so, I could inform your teacher if you would like,"

Nathanael bit his lip to hold in a groan at the possibility of Chloe going on another one of her 'do you know my father?'-rant. However, she did nothing of the sort and instead choose not to answer him, as if she hadn't heard him at all. This only made him grin widely, "May I ask who it is you're texting? Is it possibly that same poor girl? What was her name? Stacey?"

Chloe suddenly went stiff. Nathanael looked over at Kim with a questioning look, but it seemed like he didn't know what Tom was talking about either.

"What did you say?" Chloe quipped, suddenly sounding very uncomfortable. Tom smirked, walked to the front of the class and leaned against the teacher's desk. He looked over at everyone in the room as he answered her question, "I know that you all think the staff here can't hear any of your conversations. That we know nothing about your personal lives. We're just a bunch of adults who don't know you or get you,"

Every teen in the room took a moment to think about how they view the teachers and staff of their school. Nathanael realised that he was indeed guilty of this from his hatred for Ms Mendeleiev that once felt justified but now made him feel like an angsty teenager who thinks the world is out to get him.

"But Imma let you in on a secret- I have the combination to all of your lockers, so I know all of your personal shit,"

He let out an amused chuckle at their expense when he saw all of the shocked faces in front of him. There was a chorus of offended gasps and whispers of disbelief. The most comical reaction must have been Nathanael's horrified wide-eyed expression.

He felt humiliation and fear take over his system. If Tom had looked through his locker, then he might have seen all of the embarrassing mangas he wrote, portraying himself as a brave hero who saves Marinette, the damsel in distress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin
> 
> I'm sorry about the long wait, I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this chapter in the beginning. The next few chapters are going to be much like this one, as they will be based on the 'Breakfast Club.' I would also love to hear your opinions and any criticisms you have regarding this chapter.
> 
> Please comment and give a kudos if you liked it. <3


	6. Give Into The Game

"Five,"

Marinette watched intently as Juleka folded over her origami fortune teller five times- eager to see what her result would be.

Juleka produced the paper craft from her bag soon after Tom left, in an attempt to give a lighthearted feel to the room quickly filling with tension from his shocking revelation.

Marinette recovered from the shocking discovery relatively fast, happy to use Juleka's method of distraction to keep her mind off of the crippling anxiety building within her chest.

Chloe's reaction was one of outrage and disgust. She immediately started yelling obscenities at the smug janitor until he left her sight, then proceeded to call her father in hopes of getting some form of justice for the violation against her privacy. Unfortunately for Chloe, her father was attending a meeting at that time, so no matter how many times she would try to call him, it would only bring her straight to his voicemail. This only infuriated the girl further and thus, she tried to call him multiple times despite being blatantly ignored with every attempt.

Kim seemed very nonchalant about the entire ordeal. That either could have been from his personal acquaintance with Tom or he simply had nothing inside his locker that he was afraid of being seen by others.

Nathanael was unnerved by the situation, to say the least. It was awful when Chloe picked up one of his comic books and waved it in front of his classmates- exposing his crush on Marinette. But the idea of someone being able to see the disastrous pile his worst work shook him to the core. Every quick sketch he did in science when he couldn't bother to listen to his teacher drone on and on, every failed attempt at a continuation of his comics, every picture he drew of the blue haired girl who had the centre of attention in every one of his classroom daydreams.

Every one of them, he shoved into his locker, believing that they would be safe there from curious eyes than if he were to keep them in his bag.

Now, he realised, it made no difference where he kept them. Someone had access to his cluttered gallery of shameful scribbles and embarrassing doodles with him none the wiser.

"You're hair looks nice today,"

Marinette's shoulders slumped with disappointment, "That's it?" she asked.

"That's a terrible fortune," Kim interjected and Juleka shrugged in response.

"I didn't write them, Rose did," she said in defence, "She wrote all of them as compliments,"

Marinette's demeanor changed from a bored frown to a soft smile, "That's so sweet," she giggled.

Juleka's face seemed to brighten a bit at this "Yeah, she's like that, always trying to make people happy," she smiled looking off to the side.

Marinette looked at the black-clad teen curiously and wondered about the relationship Juleka shared with the short-haired blue-eyed fairy. They always were seen together sharing a warm bond that was shown whether through Juleka allowing Rose to sleep on her shoulder when she was too tired or Rose holding Juleka's hand as a comfort whenever the goth girl felt uneasy in any situation. You would never see one without the other.

Marinette wanted to ask the girl with the purple bangs, whether or not their relationship was more than friendly, but felt it was a far too personal topic and decided to stay silent.

"Well I'm bored again," Kim sighed pushing his chair back and laying his feet on his desk. Nathanael rolled his eyes, "Then find something to do,"

Kim exhaled loudly in exasperation, "I want to play truth or dare!" he whined.

From the far back the four teens heard a frustrated cry and turned around to see Chloe throw her phone against the side wall, almost letting it fly out the window. Seething, the blonde turned back and went to sit at a desk to the right of Juleka and looked unmoved towards all of their surprised expressions.

"What?" she asks bitingly.

All of the turns turned their gaze away in unison and Kim -trying to divert attention from Chloe's sudden outburst as to not annoy the girl any further- continued his conversation with Nathanael. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen?"

"The worst?" Nathanael scoffed, "The best case scenario is you try to dare me to do something crazy, the best case scenario- you try to dare me into doing something crazy and dangerous,"

Kim's eyebrows furrowed at the accusation, "Okay then," he relented bitterly, "How about we only do truths?"

Nathanael looked up annoyed at the tall boy "No," was his answer.

From behind him he could hear Marinette's voice saying "I'd like to play truths,"

The red head turned in his seat to meet eager blue eyes.

"I wanna play too," said Juleka quietly, everyone's eyes then turned to look at Chloe. The blonde haired girl sighed, "Fine. I guess I'll play too,"

Kim then looked to Nathanael eagerly, "Will you play now?"

"Nathanael took one more look at Marinette's hopeful gaze and sighed.

"Okay,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.
> 
> I'm so sorry it's so short, I promise the next chapter will be longer.
> 
> Please comment and let me know what you thought and what you think I could improve on if you have any criticism.


	7. Curious Notions

"Truth or dare?"

How did he end up in this position, again? What possibly possessed him to believe that this would be a good idea?

He thought carefully about his two choices. The last time he chose dare, it ended with him feeling humiliated and heartbroken. But the only other option could potentially end with him being forced to confess one of his darkest secrets in front of his crush. After taking many moments to think critically about his answer, he reluctantly made his decision, "...Truth,"

Juleka stared at him quizzically, "What is your real hair colour?"

He stared down at the ground, avoiding everyone's eyes, "Blonde," he muttered.

He could feel Marinette's eyes linger on him, but refused to look at her out of a strange sense of embarrassment he knew he shouldn't have been feeling.

He could have gotten a far worse question than that. However, it seemed that as long as he was exposing part of who he was in front of Marinette, no matter how insignificant, he would always feel nervous. It was as if he was constantly walking on a tight-rope when chasing after her heart, and every word he said made the rope shake, bringing him closer and closer to falling down into the dark abyss that was unrequited love.

"Now you ask one,"

Still avoiding Marinette's gaze he made his decision, "Kim," he chuckled, "Truth or dare?"

Kim was slouching in his chair but immediately sat up straight in response to his name. He was beaming back at the red-haired boy with great big excited eyes. After watching some of the others expose their secrets and partake in some strange dares- to say the least, he was more than happy to start joining in on the fun.

"Dare!" he exclaimed.

Nathanael smiled at his friend's eagerness, "I dare you, to let me draw on your face."

Kim turned slightly in his seat to grab a sharpie from his pencil case. He tossed it in Nathanael's direction having it land on the lap of his purple jeans.

"Go ahead," he said, his goofy smile never fading. Not for so much as a second did it cross his mind of the possible embarrassment that may follow, he was just happy to be finally taking part in the fun.

Nathanael, taken back by his friend's eagerness, laughed to himself. Despite how pissed off he was at Kim for the stunt he and Alex pulled on Saturday, he still couldn't find the heart to embarrass the spikey-haired goofball. He was just too vulnerable to take advantage of.

He decided on just writing 'Puggie' - the name of Kim's obese pug- along with drawing a small cartoon of a dog in the middle of his forehead.

The others smiled at his handiwork -though they probably hadn't a clue what the reference was towards- and Marinette let out a small giggle.

It was so quiet that Nathanael almost missed it. But he had heard it, and he decided that he liked hearing her laugh. He liked it a lot.

"Okay!" Kim said suddenly, "My turn!"

He started scanning each of the faces in the circle before his eyes stopped on the girl sitting in front of him.

"Juleka!" he decided, when realising she had gotten only very easy truths, and didn't have to give any embarrassing or shameful answers like most of them had. He wanted to shake things up a bit.

"Truth or dare?"

Juleka let out a breathy, nervous laugh, "Um... truth?"

Kim thought carefully of what he wanted to ask and took a minute to sift through all the different questions that were riddling in his mind about the closed-off, shy girl, since the beginning of the game. He stared at the ground and bit his knuckle until it finally came to him.

He smirked, "What was the real reason you got detention?"

If it was possible, Juleka's pale face turned a shade whiter.

"Um..." her nervous laughter started again, "I don't know what you mean..."

"Oh come on!" he exasperated dramatically, "You are talking to the king of liars. Don't think I can't tell when someone starts bullshitting a teacher."

By this time all eyes were on Juleka. The tall girl gulped which Nathanael thought was rather curious as he had every before seen cartoon characters to do when nervous. In fact, Juleka was beginning to look quite comical as her face changed from a sickly white to a dark scarlet.

"Uh, Juleka?" Nathanael began, "are you...um," he wasn't sure what he wanted to ask her. Maybe to check if she was okay or if she'd prefer they moved on with the game. Whatever the last of his sentence was, it was cut short by Juleka shaking her head in response.

"I'm fine!" she assured, "Really. I'm not ashamed of it, I just..."

She stared hands and started fiddling with them, hoping no one noticed how much they were shaking.

It was only when Marinette put a hand on her shoulder that she looked up to meet two blue eyes looking at her meaningfully with a comforting intent. "It's okay," she smiled reassuringly, "Take as much time as you need,"

Juleka let out a heavy breath and gripped her knees so hard it made her knuckles turn white.

'Alright,' she thought to herself, 'I can do this.'

..............  
"What are you doing out here, Margaret?"

She nearly dropped her cigarette in her startlement. She looked left and right frantically before turning around to meet Tom's all knowing smirk.

She sighed, both out of relief and bitter annoyance.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," she sneered while holding the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"You know I never took you for the smoking type," he continued, ignoring her clear resentment towards his arrival, "Then again, I'm not one to talk, am I?"

He fished around in his trouser pocket before pulling out a fresh cigarette, "Mind sharing a light?"

Margaret rolled her eyes but tossed him her lighter none the less. She certainly did not want to have a long chat over a smoke with her school's crude, smartass janitor, when she was trying to take some time to herself and relieve the stress that had been building up inside her mind all day. But what choice did she have? Tom caught her abandoning her duties as a teacher to indulge in a cigarette. If he decided to share this information with Mr. Damocles- the school's headmaster- she would be in serious trouble.

So she thought better of her annoyed feelings and decided on trying her best to be civil.

"So tell me, Margaret, are you still a virgin?"

This was going to be harder than she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.
> 
> Wow, this was a shit chapter.
> 
> But again, thank you guys for your patience and please let me know what you think, or if there is anything I can improve on.
> 
> Love you guys!
> 
> Please comment!


	8. Chapter 8

Nathanael was used to waiting. All his life he had been waiting for one thing or another.

Ever since the beginning of this school year, he had been waiting to get some reply from all of the online art contests he began entering some of his work into and see if his efforts had paid off. Ever since he first realized his feelings for the beautiful girl who sat two rows in front of him in class, he had been waiting for some sort of resolution or closure to put his tired heart to rest. And ever since he was six years old, he had been waiting for his mother to come home after she left to visit her sister in Ireland and to finally ask her why he hadn't heard from her in all that time.

Nathanael was also used to the anxiety that builds with waiting. He knew that the anticipation would often fade far too soon and all that would be left was a series of 'what if's?' blocking his once hopeful view of the future with a dark fog that seemed to pull him further into despair the more he thought of it.

What if he lost every competition he entered into? What if it made him lose all of his passion and self-confidence to the point where he could no longer drag himself out of bed in the morning because he no longer found interest in all of the things he used to love? What if he didn't want his feelings for Marinette to have a resolution? What if he liked the pain of seeing her every day? What if he liked hoping against hope that she will notice him, despite her obvious crush on Adrien Agreste, just because the rush of excitement that flowed through his chest every time he saw her made him feel happier than he ever could be on his own? What if he didn't want to see his mother again? What if she intended to never see him again and would be upset when he finally found her? Or worse, what if he would never get the chance to see her again, so he could never even have the choice to decide whether or not he wants her in his life anymore or ask her why she left?

And although he was sure this wasn't a common problem that other people dealt with when they had something they had to wait for, but that's just the way he was. No matter what, he will find a reason to panic over the smallest of things. Anxiety was to him as a left hand is for people with primary right-handedness.

Not always useful, but still always there.

And even now, it seemed to be there eating away at him as he waited for Juleka to answer her truth. It was quite ridiculous really to get so worked up over a game, but the more he waited for her to tell her story the more he felt like he didn't want to know. Her hesitance made him feel uneasy and gave the impression as if she was carrying an immense amount of regret for doing something terrible.

In reality, he could rationalise to himself that Juleka is merely a shy girl, and it's because of her timid nature that she feels under pressure with giving away potentially personal information. Yeah, that made far more sense.

He turned to Kim and saw him also becoming impatient, but more out of excitement for what possible secrets were about to be told, rather than the chance of them being too dark for comfort. He still managed to contain his excitement out of respect for Juleka, but just barely hiding the giddy smile on his face.

Nathanael looked across at Marinette and wasn't surprised to see the same patient and warm facial expression on her face that she had worn during the entire time they had to wait. She returned his gaze and for a brief moment and smiled at him. Nathanael for a split second forgot about his crush and how such a gesture would usually cause massive strain to his heart, smiled back at her in a silent agreement that they would wait as long as it took for the shy girl to find her confidence to speak.

Unfortunately, not everyone had the same awareness of other people's feelings as they did.

"Jesus Christ Juleka, you're in detention, not fucking prison."

Juleka lifted her eyes to stare at Chloe in utter bewilderment. Her eyes were wide and afraid as if she had just been shoved into a lion's cage.

Although, she might as well have been since the agitated glare worn by the blonde girl was just as terrifying.

"Excuse me?" Marinette looked outraged and shocked, but Nathanael couldn't understand why. It was completely within Chloe's character to be insensitive and inconsiderate no matter who she was talking to.

"What? Is it wrong for me to speak my mind?" Chloe retorted, resulting in a long winded bickering session between the two girls which almost made Nathanael space out from lack of interest before he heard Juleka's voice bellow their loud disagreement about social etiquette.

"What?" he hadn't heard her right and managed to catch everyone else's attentions by raising his voice high enough to put the entire room in silence.

"She's right," Juleka repeated, but this time a little louder and with more conviction.

Everyone seemed taken back by her sudden confidence, even Chloe raised an eyebrow at being defended by the shyest girl in all of Paris.

"You're right," she said once again, addressing Chloe with a stern look. "I have no reason to be ashamed. I am the reason why I am here, and I don't regret any of it."

"Juleka..." Marinette seemed like she was dreading the rest of whatever the tall girl had to say, while Nathanael, on the other hand, was on the edge of his seat with anticipation.

He noticed her curl her fingers around the creases of her jeans, before letting them go and sighing. This was it.

"I got in detention for kissing a girl on school grounds."

.....

We aren't supposed to go in there."

When Tom said that he had a spare pack of cigarettes for both of them to share, she thought they were going to go to his designated janitor closet for some secret stash of his. Margaret certainly didn't expect him to lead her to the principle's private office and start rooting through his drawers.

Without looking up from the drawer he was squatting in front of, trying to push past all of the books in his way, he answered her as calmly as ever. "Correction, you're not allowed in here. I, on the other hand, have ownership of the keys to every room in this building. Therefore, I may go wherever I please." She could imagine the cat like grin he was most likely wearing as he stuck his head further into the drawer, still searching.

Margaret squinted her eyes, "I'm pretty sure that when Mr Damocles gave you the key to his office, it was so you could clean it. Rather than snoop through his personal belongings and help yourself to his cigars."

Without missing a beat, Tom asked: "Does that mean you don't want a smoke anymore?"

Her silence told him enough.

While he continues searching, Margaret starts to gaze curiously over the many seemingly sentimental items Mr Damocles had spread across his desk. There was a photograph of himself and a woman, who Margaret could only assume to be his wife, holding hands and smiling at the camera with their backs to a beautiful waterfall- plummeting gallons of water into a pool of sharp rocks surrounded by multiple exotic flowers and trees that stretched high above the adoring couple.

She smiles to herself as she remembers the long description her boss gave about the amazing honeymoon in Africa that he had over the summer holidays with his beautiful new wife. How wonderful she imagined it must have been. Her eyes continue to scan over the wooden desk to see a messily drawn picture, of a dinosaur done in crayon. Once again, she was brought back to another conversation she had with Mr Damocles where he was affectionately describing his new stepson's love for prehistoric life. How he would constantly want a new book to widen his knowledge of dinosaurs, their names, their body structures, even their sleeping habits. He had such a seemingly endless fascination to study them that Mr Damocles said it reminded him of himself when he was young and determined to become an astronaut and learn every secret that lay beyond the moon and stars.

Continuing her innocent tour into her boss' privacy, she picked up a shining silver ring that sat beside his desk's phone. Bringing it closer to her eyes while adjusting her glasses- she could make out a few words engraved on the outside rim. 'To a life of endless happiness,' they read. She remembered this ring constantly wrapped around her boss' fourth finger of his left hand as gave his speech for morning assembly every school day. She imagined he must have taken it off while doing his paperwork and had forgotten it before heading out to spend the weekend with his beautiful and seemingly perfect new family.

"Aha!" Tom suddenly cheered, ripping her from her daydreaming and back to reality where she found she was still in her superior's office, searching for cigarettes with the school's obnoxious, smart-ass janitor. How lovely.

"Got 'em!" He waved the packet underneath her nose with a proud smile on his face. Annoyed with the interruption, Margaret snatched the packet and took out the first cigarette her fingers met before tossing the rest back at his face.

Tom, justifiably confused at the rude gesture, raised an eyebrow at her but didn't allow his eyes to linger for long in case he might set off another one of her random mood swings.

"No need to thank me," he said drily bellow his breath.

From the way she irritably exhaled a large cloud of smoke, he could tell she had heard him.

.....

After Juleka told her secret, an awkward silence filled the room.

Although Nathanael was surprised that the truth ended up being so harmless considering her hesitation towards telling them straight out, he could still understand her nervousness.

He knew, for the few friends he had that were part of the LGBT community, coming out was a big deal. The fear of judgement and lack of acceptance was paralysing. And for such a timid girl like Juleka, telling a group of classmates you barely know must have been terrifying.

If anything, he felt admiration towards her bravery and wanted to tell her that. But he kept his mouth shut out of fear that the trembling girl may break entirely if spoken to without given time to gather herself.

He looked over at Kim and nearly laughed at his crestfallen expression.

Before hearing Juleka's confession he was nearly on the edge of his seat with excitement to hear the kind of trouble she got herself into. And then, what he hoped to be some juicy gossip ended up being quite mundane and- to put it lightly- quite adorable if anything. Nathanael was sure Kim would keep the indignant pout on his lips for a good while until he eventually dragged some scandalous dirt out of at least one of them.

Shifting his gaze in front of him he could see Marinette sitting and slightly smiling while looking at the ground, her patience was astounding. She must have felt his eyes on her because she looked up and met his gaze. For some reason, Nathanael doesn't even think to feel nervous or embarrassed for being caught staring at his crush. Instead, he finds himself feeling a sense of contentment at the sight of her soft expression. She smiles at him and he understands in that moment that they both were feeling the same concern and understanding for Juleka. It made him feel closer to her somehow. As though they were united in their silent vow to give the trembling girl as much time and assurance as she needed to feel safe in their company.

Unfortunately, not everyone seemed capable of understanding the delicacy of the situation as well as they could.

"Wow Juleka, I knew you were creepy but I didn't peg you as a faggot."

Juleka, who had been staring at the ground since making her confession, finally looked up and the expression on her face to Nathanael was the emotional equivalent of being stabbed in the heart with a blunt of object. Out of context, seeing Juleka's face would make you think she had just been told the world was ending, although in her eyes it might as well have been.

"What, the actual fuck, Chloe?!"

Nathanael looked away from Juleka's heartbroken face and turned to see Marinette, her cheeks red with fury, staring at Chloe with an almost murderous intent in her eyes.

Chloe stared at the blue haired girl, seemingly offended by her angry tone."What? Am I wrong? I mean we share the same changing room for PE as her. Doesn't that creep you out at all?"

"Chloe, I swear-!"

"Just think of it! She could have been staring at us the whole time without us knowing and getting off on it! It's disgusting." The blonde continued while glaring at Juleka as if she were dirt.

"Chloe!" Marinette looked ready to strangle the loud-mouthed brat.

"Not only that, we also have to share the same toilet stalls as her."

"Shut up!"

At once the room was silent.

The once small and timid voice rang so loudly within the classroom walls, that even Marinette in her state of rage stopped to gaze at the trembling girl as she cried in her seat.

"You don't know." Juleka's voice was now slightly scratchy from shouting after staying silent for so long, but it still managed to make everyone in the room feel uneasy. They realised that shy quiet girl had finally found her limit.

Chloe at first was just as startled by Juleka's outburst as everyone else, but tried to recover with and a smirk that was clearly lacking in confidence, "What was that?"

"You don't know anything!" The pale girl screamed once again, her eyes now red and watery. She then swallowed a sob and looked back down at her shaking hands, and this time Chloe said nothing. She just sat there and allowed Juleka to continue.

"You asked me why I am here, so I told you. I don't need to explain myself to any of you. You weren't there. You don't know what happened. You especially don't know anything about me, so don't talk as if you do."

Another silence stretched across the five teens with only Juleka's quiet sniffling and heavy breath to accompany the terrible tension which had built itself around them.

Kim, who Nathanael noticed had been the most silent during the entire ordeal was the first to start talking again. "So..." He began seeming unsure of his next move, "Who wants to go next?"

.....

Fin.

This may be the longest chapter I have written for this story and it's on the edge of being the one I hate the most and the one I'm happiest with at the same time.

I hope you guys liked it anyways, I'm sorry for the long wait but I hope to update my other stories more quickly now that this chapter is FINALLY done.

Please make sure to review and let me know anything I can improve on!


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